Read the graph. Compare Farmer Brown's 1995 potato crop with previous years' crops, then answer the question to follow. How many more sacks of potatoes did Farmer Brown harvest in 1992 than in 1995?

60
30
20
50

When i was young enough to still spend a long time buttoning my shoes in the morning, i'd listen toward the hall: daddy upstairs was shaving, in the bathroom, and mother downstairs was frying the bacon. they would begin whispering back and forth to each other up and down the stairwell. my father would whistle his phrase, my mother would try to whistle, then hum hers backi drew my buttonhook in and out and listened to it -know it was "the merry widow." the difference was, their song almost floated with laughter. how different from the record, which growled from the beginning, as if the victrola were only slowly being wound up. they kept it running between them, up and down the stairs where i was now just about ready to run clattering down and show them my shoes. what is the effect of the parallelism used in the above excerpt? it establishes the rhythm of a duet to echo the song. it expresses the same ideas. it mirrors opposite ideas. it is a paradox.

Read this passage: many manufacturers prefer plastic as a material for containers because it can be molded into many shapes. but plastic is not very strong. it must be fused with glass or steel for strength. it is also not very durable. even the strongest plastic can break under enough pressure. the biggest disadvantage to using plastic is that it does not decompose. while plastic can be recycled, doing so is tedious and difficult. while it may be more expensive and difficult to work with, aluminum is a much stronger building material with far greater tensile strength. it conducts electricity because it is metal. best of all, aluminum is very easy to recycle. even if it is thrown away, it decomposes much more quickly than most manufacturing materials. how does the compare-and-contrast organizational pattern of the passage support the author's purpose? a. the passage gradually leads up to the point about decomposition to inform the reader about the importance of recycling plastics. b. the passage lists the advantages and disadvantages of each material to make a case for the use of plastic and not aluminum in containers. c. the passage begins with a description of plastic's problems in order to call attention to the good qualities of aluminum. d. the passage shows the superiority of aluminum in order to make a case for the production of stronger plastics.

Which lines in this excerpt from act ii of william shakespeare’s romeo and juliet reveal that mercutio thinks romeo would be better off if he stopped thinking about love? mercutio: i will bite thee by the ear for that jest. romeo: nay, good goose, bite not. mercutio: thy wit is a very bitter sweeting it is a most sharp sauce. romeo: and is it not well served in to a sweet goose? mercutio: o here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! romeo: i stretch it out for that word 'broad; ' which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. mercutio: why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. benvolio: stop there, stop there. mercutio: thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. benvolio: thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. mercutio: o, thou art deceived; i would have made it short: for i was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.